Ever since Harold Macmillan’s wind of change hit Oxford particularly hard in the 1950s, the city has seemed undecided over the question of whether the centre should be constantly “regenerated” as a shopping destination.

Should it compete with Milton Keynes or Swindon or should we accept Oxford is different: a university town, not a vibrant commercial hub offering a great retail experience to all.

Mr Macmillan kicked off the heated debate back in 1954 when, as minister of housing and local government, he found himself in the eye of Oxford’s most bitter planning storm.

He overturned a city council refusal to allow Woolworth’s to demolish the much loved Clarendon Hotel to build a new store — and thereby, according to many, changed the character of Oxford’s city centre forever.

Last week the saga continued with news that a £22m plan to build a new shopping centre in the heart of the city, between St Aldate’s and Queen Street, has fallen through following a funding row between the developer and the council.

And this week we learned that music shop Russell Acott, a familiar name to Oxford residents from long before the time of Harold Macmillan, is to close next month after exactly 200 years in business.

Now some hope the Localism Bill, which received its second reading in the House of Commons on Monday, will help Oxford people gain more say in deciding what the city centre should look like in the future. Ministers describe the bill as an attempt to reverse “decades of increasing central government control” by giving powers back to communities.

The Association of Town Centre Management is now urging MPs to attend an all party meeting on Tuesday at Westminster to thrash out ways of promoting sustainable town centres.

Oxford East MP Andrew Smith, whose constituency now includes the city centre, told The Oxford Times that he would go to the meeting. He said: “Especially with the VAT increase, which threatens to derail the fragile recovery since the recession, shops on our high streets — and their customers — need all the help they can get.

“I would support the amendment to the Localism Bill — to 'promote sustainable High Streets' — which the Association of Town Centre Management is pressing for. It will also be good when Oxford can get on with the Westgate redevelopment to attract more shoppers into the city centre.

“It is crucial, too, that business rates and rents are kept to a level consistent with maintaining a variety of shops — including local businesses as well as chains — in both our city centre and suburban shopping centres.”

Oxford West and Abingdon Tory MP Nicola Blackwood also said she would attend the meeting.

She said: “I have come across so many individuals and organisations that feel as though they are hitting their heads against a brick wall when it comes to planning. Local people and businesses feel as though they have no say in what happens to their area and local councillors are overruled by a centralised planning system that runs to over 3000 pages of planning regulations. We need to turn the planning system upside down and allow local people to determine the future of their communities.”

Martin Blackwell, of the association, said: “At a time when our high streets are under huge pressure, this Bill aspires to put local people in charge of their planning system and we approve of the sentiment.”

According to a survey carried out for the association by retail data company Springboard, footfall in Britain’s city centres has fallen 20 per cent in the last five years. In Oxford the data is not clear but city centre manager Gordon Reid said: “My educated guess would be that figures have held up better than the national picture. I think this is because we have a tight catchement area in Oxford, with residential areas, including student accommodation, close to the city centre.”

He added that planning constraints might be changed to give councils more power to decide what premises may be used for.

He said: “This would help keep diversity in the city centre. For instance, last year a lighting shop in St Aldate’s was turned into a Tesco and the local authority could do nothing about it because the shop had retail permission and it cannot dictate the type of retail.”

As for the suggestion that Oxford’s shopping scene might be different from other cities, he turned the argument on its head.

He said: “There is the contrary view. Why should the people of Oxford be denied multiple shops such as John Lewis, just because this is a university city? Such shops want to come here because people want to shop in them.”

Mr Reid added; “We have a lot of individual retailers in Oxford, and an individual department store, namely Boswells. But of course I want to hear from individuals, employers and all interested groups about how Oxford should develop in the future.”

Mr Blackwell said the Landlord and Tenant Act of 1954 was now out of touch with reality and in need of revision.

Mr Reid said the Act tended to favour larger shops which could afford to sign 25-year agreements.

The £22m retail scheme which was scrapped last week hit the buffers because the developer, Carlyle, could not agree a sum to pay Oxford City Council under an agreement where developers have to pay for additional work.

Whether things would have been different if the Localism Bill were in force is impossible to say.

As for the old-established business of Russell Acott, it moved to the Hinksey Business Centre in Botley from its High Street site back in 1998.

Brothers Graham and Russell Ansell, the third generation of their family to run the business, said last week that they had decided to retire, blaming crippling competition from the Internet.

Mr Ansell said: “Retail has changed. People look at things in shops and then buy it on the Internet. These days, music shops are little more than one-man bands. We realised we would have to downsize and we moved out of the city.

“Looking back, we got out at the right time.”

Graham Jones, spokesman for Oxford High Street Business Association and the retail campaign group Rescue Oxford, said: “It is incredibly sad to see another Oxford institution gone.”

Back to the Macmillan era, the Clarendon hotel was duly demolished and the new store opened in 1957, remaining there until 1983 when it was remodelled to incorporate the Clarendon Centre.

Such was the anger of many university dons at Macmillan’s decision that they threatened to vote against an honorary doctorate being offered to him — and the offer was quietly dropped.

But the dons were right — Woolworth’s victory did change the character of the city centre forever, for it represented a challenge to old-fashioned stores such as Cape’s, Webbers and, of course, Elliston and Cavell.

But as Mr Reid said: “The world has moved on, and the people of Oxford want modern chain stores.”

Now, perhaps, they will have more opportunity to make their opinions heard if localism really does give “communities” more say in the planning process.